1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case for accommodating a disc cartridge which accommodates a disc for use as a recording medium, such as an optical disc or a magnetic disc, on which information signals are recorded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, a case for accommodating a disc cartridge has been employed which accommodates a disc cartridge which accommodates a disc for use as a recording medium when the disc cartridge is not loaded into a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus.
The disc cartridge accommodating a disc has a recording and/or reproducing opening for causing a portion of a signal recording region of the disc to be exposed to the outside. The disc cartridge has a shutter arranged to close the opening so as to protect the accommodated disc from damage caused from dust or foreign matter introduced into the cartridge through the opening during storage of the disc cartridge.
If the shutter is accidentally operated during storage of the disc cartridge and thus the recording and/or reproducing opening is opened, introduction of dust or foreign matters cannot be prevented.
Therefore, a case for accommodating a disc cartridge has been employed in order to prevent undesirable opening of the recording and/or reproducing opening owning to accidental operation of the shutter during the storage of the disc cartridge. Moreover, the case protects the accommodated disc from great shock caused from a drop or the like of the disc cartridge.
As a case of the foregoing type, the applicant of the present invention has disclosed a case in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-42986. The disclosed case is manufactured by folding a sheet made of a synthetic resin or the like into a bag shape. The foregoing case cannot realize sufficiently great mechanical strength. If a great shock is administered owning to a drop or the like, there is apprehension that the shock is administered to the accommodated disc cartridge and thus the disc cartridge is damaged.
The operation for bending the sheet to form the case cannot accurately be performed. Therefore, the foregoing case cannot reliably accommodate and hold the disc cartridge. Thus, there is apprehension that the accommodated case is dropped.
To solve the above-mentioned problem and reliably accommodate and protect the disc cartridge, the applicant of the present invention has disclosed a case for accommodating a disc cartridge in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-278772. The disclosed case incorporates a ceiling plate joined opposite to a rectangular bottom plate of a case body which has peripheral walls stood erect on the bottom plate. An opening for injecting/ejecting the disc cartridge is provided for a side surface of the case body.
The case disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-278772 can be made of a material with which the case body and the ceiling plate have sufficiently great mechanical strength. Therefore, a disc cartridge which must be accommodated in the case can reliably be protected. To improve the impact resistance of the disclosed case, the case body is made of an ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) resin or a Hi-PS (High Impact Polystyrene) resin having high impact resistance. The foregoing synthetic resins are opaque resins in general. Therefore, if the overall body of the case is made of the foregoing synthetic resin, the inside portion of the case cannot be seen through the case body. As a result, the type of the accommodated disc cartridge cannot easily be detected.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, that is, to enable the inside portion to be seen through while satisfactory impact resistance is realized, a case has been disclosed which incorporates a ceiling plate made of a transparent PS (Polystyrene) resin or a transparent AS (Acrylonitrile Styrene) resin.
If only the ceiling plate is made of the transparent material, the upper and lower surfaces of the accommodated disc cartridge cannot be seen through the case. Therefore, sufficient confirmation of the accommodated disc cartridge cannot easily be performed.
To enable the accommodated disc cartridge to be confirmed from any direction, a case has been disclosed which incorporates a case body which is as well as made of the transparent PS resin or the AS resin. When the overall body of the case is made of the transparent PS resin or the AS resin, satisfactory impact resistance cannot be obtained. If a shock is administered to the case owning to a drop or the like, the case is easily broken. As a result, the accommodated disc cartridge cannot reliably be protected.
To enable the accommodated disc cartridge to be confirmed from any direction while satisfactory impact resistance is maintained, a case has been disclosed which incorporates a case body and a ceiling plate made of a PC (PolyCarbonate) resin or the transparent ABS resin which is a transparent resin having satisfactory impact resistance. Since the foregoing resins are costly resins, the cost of the material, however, is enlarged. As a result, the manufacturing cost is enlarged excessively.
To reliably protect the disc cartridge and enable the accommodated disc cartridge to easily be confirmed from outside, the material of the above-mentioned conventional case for accommodating a disc cartridge is limited. Since the materials which can be employed is limited, a case cannot freely be designed.